Agilent 3070 Mirror Utility

For Panels with Mirrored and Unmirrored Instances of Boards

Agilent 3070 software requires special handling of panels with mirrored and unmirrored instances of boards. Mirrored boards need to be "normalized" into a non-mirrored status before running any Design for Testability functions, and before creating 3070 Board and Board_XY files.

Note: This is only for users who have panels that have mirrored and unmirrored boards and wish to make 3070 files. If a user is making 3070 files from a board rather than a panel, or if the panel only has unmirrored boards, they do not need to use this utility.

Visit our Downloads section to get this utility.

What this Utility Does

This program finds out from CAMCAD whether a panel contains mirrored boards. If it finds any, it makes a duplicate "normalized" instance of the main board in the File List. It then replaces any mirrored boards on the panel with the "normalized" new boards. Once this is complete, users can perform a DFT on the original board AND the new board, to have accessible locations on both determined. Finally, 3070 files can be exported.

To run the program, start with CAMCAD with a panel created, with mirrored instances of boards on the panel. When the utility begins, red lines show you where you have mirrored boards, green lines represent normal unmirrored boards.

In this case, a panel was found with 2 unmirrored boards and 2 mirrored boards. In the last column, the program shows you the new File Name that will be created for the "normalized" board. Simply click the Proceed button to make the utility perform it's task.

When the utility is finished it will present the user with an announcement shown above. This simply means that a new "normalized" board has been created, and users need to run a DFT on this new board for it's accessibility to be determined. The Agilent 3070 Mirrored Boards Utility will then change the color of the red lines to yellow, to show that they have been normalized.

Performing a DFT Analysis on Normalized Boards

In the CAMCAD File List there will be a new file called "[OldFileName]_Mirror". Use the Off / On toggles to the left of the board name to display the xyz_Mirror board, and perform a DFT analysis and Probe Placement on it, independent of a DFT analysis and Probe Placement on the original board.

After a DFT analysis and Probe Placement has been performed on the original Board and the new Board, turn on the Panel and export your 3070 files.

Manual Processing Bypassing the Mirror Utility

The Mirror Utility automatically performs many steps for the user in preparing data for 3070 export. If users wish to manually perform the same steps, here's an outline to do so:

Here's the steps to make a 3070 file with mirrored boards on panels:

1) Import a copy of the board that is not to be mirrored, clean it using the delete generic graphics function, and set the board origin to the lower left. For example, you can use the sample PADS board pads.asc.
2) In the File List, toggle the file from ON to OFF. You now have a blank project window.
3) Import a copy of the board that is to be mirrored on the panel. It is very helpful if this board has a different name as the first board you imported that is not to be mirrored. The mirrored board can be a copy of the first file, called "copy of pads.asc".
4) With the board to be mirrored visible in the project window, clean it up using the delete generic graphics function and set the board origin to the lower left corner.
5) In the File List, double click the file to be mirrored. This brings up an edit window. Click the Mirror checkbox. Click Ok to exit from the file list. You should see your file to be mirrored, mirrored on the screen.
6) Issue the menu command Settings | Restrucutre files around origin. This natively changes all the x,y and surface info in the board to reflect it's current state. When this is done, the board is effectively redefined from a bottom view. This is the "mirrored" board to be put on the panel.
7) Use the panelization function to place instances of the two kinds of boards on the panel. Note: when placing the boards, do not use the "mirror" checkbox in the dialog where you put the x,y location and rotation of boards on the panel. Instead of using the mirrored checkbox, simply place either the unmirrored board or the mirrored boards on the panel where they should go.
8) Save the panel as a CC file
9) Export 3070 files.